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Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Comments and Replies

Again, I thank you all for your comments on my posts. I love getting comments, and I reply often, especially if the commenter is either new to reading my blog or new to commenting. In fact, I make it a point to welcome newbies aboard ~~ when I'm able to.

But I've been frustrated for quite a while by the fact that many of your comments come to me from

name noreply-comment@blogger.com

instead of from your real email. For a long time I thought this had something to do with the way I had my comment settings arranged. But what I do, as the blog owner, has nothing to do with the matter.

Some blog owners reply to comments right on their blogs. But I don't like doing this...primarily because it forces the commenter to have to go back to that post to read the reply. A few people whose blogs I follow do this, so I will go back to the older post to read what they've said in response to my comment. But I'd rather not have to. As a blog owner, I'd much rather get your comment in my email inbox and reply to you directly by email.

If you want replies to your comments on my blog or any other Blogger/Blogspot blog you read, then you have to change your settings on your blogger account. Even if you don't have your own blog, but you reply to blogs, you have a blogger account.

Rather than reinvent the wheel, here is a link to someone else's blog with a tutorial on how to change the settings on your blogger account so that your email address shows. If you've been wondering why you never get replies to your comments from anyone's blog, this is why. You have to change your settings so that your email address shows up when your comment arrives in the blogger's email inbox.

Also, if you're on Google+, the same problem applies. I get your comments but cannot reply to you directly because your email address is hidden by Google+. You'll have to go to the settings on your profile, and click the box that will allow your email address to be seen by people you send comments to. You may actually have to let Google+ know to use your Blogger profile, something you would do through your Google+ settings. I'm not clear on this ~~ I don't/won't use Google+ (even though I automatically have a profile there because I use Blogger).

These are folks I've had comments from just in the last few weeks, that I haven't been able to respond to, other than by writing a new blog post.

Some of you on the list I know from elsewhere, like Facebook, or because I read your blog. But still, in order to respond to your comments on my blog, I would have to go to your blog and leave a comment, or send you a message on Facebook. It shouldn't be this hard to reply.

There's another large group of readers whose email does not show up with comments. These are people I know personally, or have been in touch with for many years online, so I have already your email addresses. If I want to reply to your blog comments, rather than just hit reply, write a message and send, I have to manually type in your email address from my address book. Some or all of you also might want to change the settings on your blogger/Google+ profiles. Here's a list of those folks:

...and that's just going back to the beginning of August. Like I said, I can still reply to folks in the list just above, BUT...if any of you guys wonder why you might not ever get replies from other people whose blogs you comment on, now you know.

Now that I've explained what you have to do to get replies to your comments, let me say that this issue is only a problem with Blogger/Blogspot blogs. Wordpress and Typepad blogs require that you leave your email address at the bottom of every comment you make. So the blog owner automatically gets your email address. Blogger, which is an arm of Google, doesn't do this. On the one hand, it's an apparent hassle to have to set your profile so that your email shows (and it's only going to show to the blog owner when your comment hits their email inbox; it won't show in the comment box for anybody else to see).

On the other hand, Blogger and Google have user privacy built into their platforms, which is a nice thing in this day and age. At least Blogger isn't Facebook, which automatically invades your privacy until you opt out. In the case of Blogger/Google, you have to opt in for your email address to be seen.

7 comments:

Connie...I do not always have time for posting comments, but when I do I trust that the comment comes connected to my e-mail. I totally enjoyed the tour through Rose Cottage the other day; your ability to find room for living and working in this small space had me thinking about my complaints that things were too tight and crowded in my 725 sq foot bungalow.....and downsizing has been my project for the past two years. Much success this far, and as things go away I do feel more freedom;I am completely pulled into the wonderful storage of supplies in your space...and the photos encourage me to continue on my path to letting go of what is not essential. You are truly the master magician. My friend Cindy B. told me how wonderful Rose Cottage is and she was so correct in that assessment. Much appreciation for you, your space, your words and your art. Kristin

strange, because what I see when I post a comment is my email, which is strangernfiction@blogspot.ca, fyi, and my name. However, I have now checked the little box below all the other bumpf, which says," email followup comments to ___which happens to be the email address I've just shared. I don't ever really expect to get a reply, btw. If I ask a question, I tend to do that by email. Thank you for being so responsive. I can't believe it doesn't show my google ID!?

I had no idea my email did not show up. Thanks so much for taking the time to post about this. I do not have a blog but I was asked for my Google sign in to post a comment. I did follow the link in your post, however, the first instruction was to go to your "dashboard" and I have no clue what a "dashboard" is. So, I googled "Google Blogger Profile" and got lucky! There was a box to check to show my email. In case this was not at all what would help, my email address is tronaldte@att.net.

I've always taken the approach that I answer comments on my own blog with another comment on the blog, since that adds to the conversation that others occasionally will contribute to as well. I think most bloggers don't expect a personal email response. That said, it is always lovely to hear from you after I leave a comment, and is certainly a kindness on your part.